When I first started my surgical practice, I was part of a group of talented surgeons. My pal and common assistant at that time was a great guy named Steve, who was a few years older than I. We had a natural affinity and were similar in temperment, so we tended, more and more, to work together.
 
Steve and I were associates, not partners. That means that we shared office space, and expenses, but not revenues. Although, like many surgeons just starting out, I was on salary at first (in my case for six months). 
 
Well, Steve was a natural diagnostician (those are born, not made) and a pretty damn good surgeon, in his own right. He was so good, that many years later, I asked him to do the surgery on my mother, when she needed to have her left hip replaced. We were thick as thieves and very attuned to each other’s rhythms in surgery. So we were a very good team indeed.
 
Thing about Steve was that he wouldn’t do surgery on just anyone. They had to prove to him that they had failed at all conservative treatments first and that their pain was unrelieved by any lesser treatment. In that way, he strongly influenced me and tempered my impatience to jump to the surgical approach, an understandable impulse in a young guy who has just spent his youth preparing to be a surgeon and believes in his ability to do anything.
 
One of the senior men in the group, Art, a brilliant hand surgeon, whose like I have never seen, before or since, took me aside one day and gave me some counter-intuitive advice I took to heart.
 
“Listen, Bill,” he told me. “I know you want to do a lot of surgery. But be patient. Don’t jump right at surgery, first thing. You’ll only scare them away.  Instead, try everything else first. Brace them, give them medicine, injections if they need them. Make them ASK you, or better yet, BEG you for surgery, before you do it.”
 
“Huh?” I said, brilliantly.
 
“It’s simple,” he said. “People and their referring doctors want a surgeon who isn’t “knife happy.” They want to know that you’re operating on them because you don’t have a choice, not just because you can.” 
 
“But, how can I build a surgical practice like that?” I asked. 

He smiled and told me a profound truth, that I remember to this day. “That’s the irony of conservative treatment,” he said. “If you try NOT to do surgery, you’ll end up doing even MORE than you can handle. 

“You see, people want to know they can trust you. They need to feel they can believe what you tell them. If you treat them conservatively and help them, when they REALLY need surgery and can’t avoid it, they’ll come back to YOU, because they trust you.”
 
I admit I was skeptical at first, but this guy was not only a brilliant surgeon, who I greatly admired, but a highly successful practioner, who had an enormous practice. So I decided he must know what he’s talking about. I resolved to follow his advice and see what happened.
 
Well, the rest, as they, say is history. I did what he advised and lo and behold, my practice burgeoned.  In fact, it perfectly tracked Art’s own successful practice, just trailing his profile by eight years. I was a believer.
 
And over time, I realized that it was not only smart business, but it was correct ethically and morally, as well. In fact, it’s just really good Medicine. 
 
Surgery should be the last or the best option, not the first choice of treatment, in most cases. The object is to let the body heal itself, if it can, and only intervene surgically when there is no other choice, or when that will yield the best result. 
 
In other words, avoid the unnecessary surgery. And do the best surgery possible, when that is the best option. 
 
This has been the guiding principle of my life for all these many years. And it remains so today, as demonstrated in my newest healing program, HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERY, which you can get here, at  http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
 
With treatments drawn from across the medical spectrum, conventional, alternative and complementary, most knee pain will respond to some combination of these proven remedies. See for yourself and unleash your body’s own healing potential. Relieve your knee pain at http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
 
Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill

P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! The electronic tone went off as our front door opened this morning at 8 AM, and Joe, our contractor, came in to continue the renovation job in our basement. Woke me up instantly, though the bride remained asleep. Hey, after lots of years of having to get up at the very crack of dawn, I like to sleep in, now that I’m retired. Just before awakening, I had been dreaming about Jonathan Swift’s iconic character Gulliver, standing in the sea, on a shore, bound with a host of Lilliputian lines. 
 
“Why in the world was I dreaming about that?” I wondered. 
 
Then it dawned on me, that an article in the Oct. 14th Wall Street Journal by Bret Stephens, “America Will Remain The Superpower,” referenced that character, as a metaphor for the international ramifications and implications of the recent market meltdown: “When the tide laps at Gulliver’s waistline, it usually means the Lilliputians are already ten feet under.”
 
The author’s point was that the decline in value of our stock market by 25% in three months (before the surge back of yesterday)meant that the Dow had “outperformed nearly every single major foreign stock exchange (which all had losses substantially in excess of our own)” and that “America’s financial woes are nobody elses gain.” Or put another way, the news of America’s demise as a superpower is greatly exaggerated. And whatever affects us is that much worse for pretty much everyone else.
 
It was only a single line in a long article, but I guess that image made an impression on my subconscious, that showed up in the dream.

Well, as you may or may not recall, Jonathan Swift was a satirist, responsible for some pretty biting criticisms of his society at that time (my favorite was “A Modest Proposal,” which suggested that a way to deal with famine was cannibalism). And Gulliver met people both much smaller (Lilliputians) and much larger (Brobdingnagians) than himself. But I think my subconscious took the image more literally, perhaps portraying various problems and concerns I might be thinking about as those pesky lines, binding my “big self.” And in taking this form, the dream itself suggested the solutions. 
 
What’s interesting about this metaphor is that in order to break free of those entangling lines, ACTION is required. Passive acceptance of his situation will only result in further loss of freedom. It’s only Gulliver’s travails that will ultimately set him free.
 
In the same way, if you have any problem, physical, mental or spiritual, the worst thing you can do is nothing. Passive acceptance guarantees no change. You have to analyze your situation, determine what’s necssary to change it, and then you must take the necessary action to effect that change.
 
For example, if you’re crippled with arthritis, or suffering from knee pain of any cause, just sitting around won’t change your condition. You have to TAKE ACTION, like the simple, non-surgical treatments and the specialized modified exercises I teach in my newest healing program, HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERY, which you can see at this link:  http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
 
If you want to relieve your knee pain, FAST, and restore your joint stability and full function, then you need this program! Click on the link and see how:  http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
 
Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill
 
P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

A good friend of mine emailed me today for advice.  He’s a doctor of chiropractic who’s developed severe pain in his hip joint. He saw an orthopaedist, who got an MRI, but it was inconclusive–could be edema, or it could be a more serious disease that could result in surgery. 
 
Trouble is, the picture doesn’t look like what you’d expect if he had the more serious disease. Typical of the problems one sees in clinical practice–cases often don’t follow the textbook presentation. So it makes it tough to know exactly what to do.
 
Seems the guy has asthma and he’s been taking steroids (prednisone) for some time to try to control the symptoms. But one of the potential and most dreaded side effects of longer term systemic steroid use, typically seen in asthmatics, rheumatics, or people with chronic allergies or skin diseases, is a bone disease called avascular necrosis.
 
Avascular necrosis is a kind of weird disease that no one’s ever heard of, until they get it, or know someone who did. It refers to the death of bone cells inside a bone. It’s variously called aseptic necrosis (meaning it is NOT caused by an infection), ischemic (meaning it’s due to oxygen deprivation) necrosis, or avascular (lack of blood supply) necrosis, or just plain old osteonecrosis (or “dead bone”) where “necrosis” means cell death. It commonly affects the hip, knee, shoulder, or ankle, in roughly that order.
 
For any number of reasons, this happens because there is a blockage of the blood supply to the bone of the affected joint. Think of it like a dam in a river. So everything “downstream” that is normally fed by the blood supply is suddenly cut off. The cells, deprived of oxygen, begin to die. The surrounding bone then begins to deteriorate. In the case of the hip, this area is recognized as “dead” by the body and special cells go to the site and begin eating away the dead bone area, so that new healing bone can be laid down.
 
The problem is that as that dead bone is removed, support for the overlying joint surface is is removed, too. The pressure across the joint surface causes the joint surface to collapse under the pressure. Think of a house that has its foundation eroded by an underground river, or a sink hole. What happens to the roof? Caves in, right? 
 
Same thing.
 
When the “roof” caves in, that segment collapses, the hip suddenly hurts like Hell and the resulting irregularity rapidly chews up the rest of the joint, causing rapid onset of arthritis. Very bad news, indeed.  Once that happens, nothing short of a hip replacement can relieve pain and restore function.
 
If you recognize the disease early enough, you can do a small surgery that can often save the joint from collapse. Through a tiny stab wound incision and under fluoroscopic control, a surgeon can drill a hole from the side of the hip bone into the femoral head, just like coring an apple. This relieves pressure inside the femoral head, which is believed to be responsible for cutting off the blood supply to the femoral head. Not as big a deal as total hip replacement, but, hey, it’s still surgery, right? You want to avoid it, if you can.
 
So the doctor’s dilemma is to get an accurate diagnosis quickly enough to do a lesser surgery and head off joint collapse, but not to do an unnecessary surgery, if it isn’t needed. And he has to try to relieve the hip pain, while all this is going on. Not always an easy thing to do. And made much more difficult when the picture isn’t typical. Tough to know what the right thing is to do…
 
Same thing occurs in the knee, but there, because the knee is a larger joint (in fact, the largest joint), it’s a lot more forgiving and less likely to collapse than the hip. So there, conservative non-surgical treatments make the most sense, like those I teach in my newest healing program, HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERY, which you can get at  http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
 
Meanwhile, I recommended my friend reduce the forces across his hip joint by using a cane. Same thing for a painful knee. Sometimes, the simplest things are the most effective. That, combined with a number of the alternative and conventional non-surgical treatments  to relieve pain, that I describe in detail at http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html  may be very helpful to him. Even though the program was written for the knee, the methods I use are systemic, that is, they work for the whole body, hip included. And that program comes with a FREE Special Report on HOW TO RELIEVE HIP PAIN, too.
 
So, I wished him luck. Hopefully, he’ll recover soon, and avoid all those problems. We’ll just have to wait and see…
 
Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow, 
 
Dr. Bill

P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

On the flight back to Orlando from Long Island, we were waiting in line in Pre-Boarding (my father-in-law needs a wheelchair), when I noticed a guy on a cell phone who looked very familiar. But it’s been a few years and Time has its way with all of us. I couldn’t be certain, but I thought I recognized this guy. After a few minutes, I noticed that he was looking at me the same way. 
 
“Bobby?” I asked. “Bill! How’re you doing?” he replied.  Sure enough, it was my old pal from the hospital. This is the friendliest guy you’d ever want to meet, never depressed, or down–always smiling, with a barely contained energy that was always bubbling up from  somewhere deep inside him. 
 
Ever notice what a true pleasure it is to be around people like this? They seem to light up a room and any troubles or personal concerns you may have had just evaporate in their presence. Their enthusiasm for life itself is infectious. No way you can be depressed, or even neutral around them. It’s like they carry the sun in their pocket. Well, Bobby is one such guy. And a damn fine doctor, too.
 
Bob is an ace gastroenterologist, a GI guy, with just an enormous practice. He told me he’s trying to computerize his entire office and at last count he’s had over 34,000 patients. Now, for a medical specialist (as opposed to a surgical specialist), volume IS the name of the game. But still…that’s an incredible number for one guy. He had an office on the floor above me in the medical office building and did colonoscopies and EGDE’s (esophagogastroduodenal endoscopies–esophagus, stomach, upper small intestine) all day long. I took care of his family and he took care of me and mine. Birds of a feather, you know?
 
He did my ‘scope (for screening purposes) a number of years ago and I will tell you, he is slick–didn’t even feel it. I don’t mean it was just comfortable, either. I mean he’s so good I felt NOTHING at all.  But I know he did it, ’cause I watched his progress on the video monitor, during the procedure. Kind of looked like a quick ride through the Batcave. So, far as I’m concerned, HE’S the MAN. Wouldn’t let anyone else touch me or my family. Like we say in surgery, “he’s got the hands.” Not everyone does.
 
I used to kid him all the time, especially after a particularly trying day dealing with difficult patients and their families, administrators, or regulators, insurance companies, politicians, and of course, everyone’s favorite…lawyers, that we all had to deal with a$$holes. But HE’S a professional–at least he gets PAID to deal with them!
 
Anyway, he was in town for a GI Conference at the Gaylord Palms Hotel, just West of Disneyworld. So he sat next to me on the plane and we spent the next 2 1/2 hours catching up and gossiping about the old days. Couple of yentas, eh? He informed me that Medicine continues its slide down the tubes, thanks to ever more onerous regulations, apparently imposed by government morons, ridiculously low fees imposed by the insurance companies, that don’t even cover the cost of treatment, and ever increasing overhead. Sounds like I got out just in time (though I don’t recommend my method of retirement).
 
Here we were–two old “dinosaurs,” from the “Glory Days” of Medicine, figuratively seeing that asteroid coming in fast to wipe us out, and forseeing the Day of the fuzzy little mammals, that would soon replace us, but never be our equals. Hell, what worries us most is that there won’t be anyone as good as we were to take care of US, when the need arises. And the worst part is the public is CLUELESS. Politicians all lie (sorry, that’s rather like saying birds all fly) and Joe Six-Pack has NO idea what’s coming….
 
Then, he asked me what I’ve been doing and I told him about the website and all the healing programs I’d created to help people, in these troubled times, take some control of their own medical care. For the basics on knee pain and how to get rid of it, with tricks and methods from across the entire medical spectrum, there’s THE LITTLE GREEN BOOK FOR ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, at http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html  in both book form and on audio CD.
 
The companion to that book is my collection of specially modified exercises to prevent or eliminate knee pain, my PAIN-FREE PROGRAM, which you can see at  http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
There is my magum opus, THE ADVANCED MASTERS’ PROGRAM  http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html  which covers everything you ever wanted to know about knee pain and how to eliminate it, geared to the professional, physician, chiropractor, nurse, physical therapist, personal or athletic trainer, or the person who just wants to know it all.
 
And, finally, my newest healing program, the popular HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERY, in book and CD formats, at http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
 
He was amazed at what I’d set up since we spoke last. And I secured a promise from him that he’d let me interview him one day, soon, for my subscribers, in a teleseminar on common GI disorders. We exchanged contact info and then, he left me at the terminal, to go off to the seminar. Great guy. It was good to see him again. I expect I’ll get in touch with him soon. It’s past time for another scope….
 
Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill
 
P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

When I first arrived on the scene in August of 1973, the other orthopaedic surgeons in Smithtown weren’t exactly thrilled to see me. I didn’t find out til later on, but my new Associates had been in a struggle for dominance in town with another large group and had been sort of “rubbing their noses in it,” about my coming into their practice–the first fellowship trained joint surgeon on Long Island. So, quite naturally, but unbeknownst to me, the other guys were more than a little peeved, before they even met me.
 
I had just completed the Aufranc Fellowship, arguably the finest and most prestigious joint reconstruction fellowship in the country. But like all residents and fellows, I had been part of the house staff in the hospitals in which I trained. I had no airs, no sense of entitlement and I hope, no arrogance. Training programs are all very cooperative: The patients always come first, but everyone is in it together and we all help one another, in a spirit of good-fellowship.
 
So, the motives and behavior that the other guys in town projected onto me, were wholely undeserved and were frankly mystifying to me. I had always gotten along with everyone–my nickname was “Easy Bill.” To be treated with suspicion, paranoia and thinly veiled hostility for (to my knowledge) no reason, right out of the box, was quite a shock. I was, in short, clueless about the now competitive nature of my relationship with the other surgeons. Welcome to ”Private Practice,” kid!
 
Since I had no inkling of what had provoked this response, I tended to be a little defensive and decided, “Well, I’ll show THEM.” And I did.
 
I did procedures that I had been trained to do, complex surgeries that no one else in town had even seen, much less done. And I was adept at scooping up free patients from the ER, making friends with the ER docs and nurses, the family physicians and internists in town, and especially the rheumatologists. I did consultations and saw patients in the office and the ER with the raw energy of the newly minted doctor.
 
I was aggressive in doing surgeries, like no one but a young surgeon can be. And although I NEVER did a surgery that wasn’t warranted, I tended to view all problems through the prism of my training: “If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” As a result, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy–I BECAME exactly what my collegues had feared and was soon acknowledged as THE regional expert in my field.  And yet…
 
It’s an old, but true saying: “There are OLD surgeons and there are BOLD surgeons; but there are NO old, bold surgeons.” Things I did then, though strictly indicated, I would never do, or recommend today. Certain things you only learn through time and experience. And after nearly a quarter century in the Operating Room, I’ve learned that the very best surgery is the one you AVOID. I’ve learned to respect the integrity of the body and appreciate its capacity for self-healing. 
 
In short, I learned the wisdom of the non-surgical solution.
 
That’s not to say that there aren’t times when only surgery will do. There are. But many times, patience and the use of time-tested non-surgical solutions, from across the entire medical spectrum, conventional, alternative and complimentary, will help relieve your pain and restore your function–but do that WITHOUT SURGERY. And that’s why I wrote my newest healing program, HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERY. See it here at:    http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
 
Even if you don’t have knee pain right now, the methods and strategies revealed in this program will help you PREVENT conditions that result in pain. And, of course, if you DO suffer an injury, you’ll be prepared to get the right treatment, avoid mistakes and vastly improve your chances to AVOID KNEE SURGERY, if that’s possible.  So be smart, before the fact. BE PREPARED. Get your copy of this unique program, today. Click on the link NOW:    http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
 
Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill

P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved

The week doesn’t go by that I don’t hear from someone that they were told they need surgery, but they’re scared to death of it! Now, even when I was doing a great deal of surgery, I was NEVER doing anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary. I often tell people that over 90% of the patients who were referred to me were treated NONSURGICALLY.
 
Why was this? After all, I was paid quite a bit to do surgery. Why wouldn’t I push it more?
 
Very simple. 

If you develop the reputation of being very conservative when it comes to recommending surgery, ironically enough, you end up doing MORE surgery than if you had been very aggressive initially.
 
You see, the physicians who refer patients, and other patients who refer their friends, want to have confidence that they are sending these people to someone with integrity, who won’t push an unnecessary procedure, and will only recommend surgery when that’s the only option, or sometimes, the best option.
 
They believe, quite accurately, that their recommendation reflects on them. And they want their patients/friends to feel good about the guy they sent them to. So they tend to refer to the surgeon who is SLOW to operate. Over time, this results in a very large volume of surgery with EXCELLENT RESULTS, because the procedures were properly indicated and the surgery therefore worked.
 
I learned this very early on in my practice, from one of the senior men in my group. This guy was a truly outstanding hand surgeon–gifted, in fact.  As a young guy, just out of training, I naturally wanted to do surgery. That’s why I trained so long–I wanted to DO something to help people. 

And, like many young guys just out of training, I believed there wasn’t ANYTHING I couldn’t do. Time and maturity have a way of humbling the best of us, but at that time, I BELIEVED in my own abilities.
 
Well, this older man, who had much more experience, but understood the drives of a younger man, told me, point blank, what I just told you: 

“Bill, restrain yourself and try conservative treatment first, with every patient. Not only is this the right thing to do, but mark my words, you’ll end up doing MORE surgery than if you’re too aggressive.”
 
And because I had seen this man in action and greatly admired his extraordinary skills, I respected anything he told me. In short, I did exactly what he told me to do. 

And you know what? He was right.
 
In time, I came to appreciate that this was the ethically correct approach, as well. But at first, I learned to be this way as a matter of enlightened self-interest. With maturity, I developed personal guidelines to PROVE that any procedure was indicated and it was the correct approach for the patient. 

And, I incorporated a number of alternative measures into my practice, as well (despite the odd looks and derisive remarks of my colleagues), as they seemed to work and they often offered improved results in non-surgical cases, of which there were many more than the surgeries.
 
So, many people told they need surgery tend to panic. They’ve all heard horror stories and imagine every evil result imaginable, if they allow themselves to go “under the knife.” And in some cases, where surgery really IS the right thing to do, they miss the opportunity to get an excellent result, or worse, because of misplaced fear and ignorance.
 
I don’t want that to happen to you. 

So, for the rest of this week, each day, I’m going to teach you exactly what’s done in a number of the most popular orthopaedic surgeries. You might as well know what’s really involved. In this way, you can face what you fear. And I’ve always found that learning the truth robs fear of its power over you.
 
But remember, MOST cases can be treated WITHOUT  surgery. That’s why I created my newest healing program, HOW TO AVOID KNEE SURGERY   http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
 
So if you, or someone you know, has knee pain, or been told you need surgery, check this out. With the very best techniques from across the medical spectrum, conventional, alternative and complementary methods, you may well be able to relieve your pain–WITHOUT SURGERY. Try it. You have nothing to lose, but your pain. Click the link below and see:
 http://drbillsclinic.com/avoid_knee_surgery.html
 
Til next time, my friend, be well.
 
Yours for a pain-free tomorrow,
 
Dr. Bill
 
P.S. For DR. BILL’S LITTLE GREEN BOOK ON ELIMINATING KNEE PAIN, a concise, but complete handbook on the root causes and the various options for treating knee pain, go to http://drbillsclinic.com/eliminate_knee_pain.html
 
P.P.S. For DR. BILL’S PAIN-FREE PROGRAM: EXERCISES TO PREVENT OR ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN, please go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/exercise_eliminate.html
 
P.P.P.S. For the giant, comprehensive ADVANCED MASTERS’ COURSE: HOW TO ELIMINATE KNEE PAIN–ONCE & FOR ALL!, everything you need to know on causes and solutions for knee pain and the complete exercise program, too, go to
 http://drbillsclinic.com/advanced_masters.html
 
FREE BONUS CD with any order: THE HEALING POWER OF POSITIVE PAIN PERCEPTION
 
Copyright, 2008 by William Thomas Stillwell, MD
All rights reserved